


Day One Hundred Sixty-One || Swimming

by 365daysofsasuhina



Series: 365 Days of SasuHina 2019 [161]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Drowning, F/M, Gen, Mermaids
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-11
Updated: 2019-06-11
Packaged: 2020-04-24 14:21:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19175086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/365daysofsasuhina/pseuds/365daysofsasuhina
Summary: When Sasuke nearly drowned ten years ago, he could scarcely believe how he survived. But now...he's determined to find the truth. Whatever - or whoever - it was.





	Day One Hundred Sixty-One || Swimming

The memory has always been foggy.

Even now, ten years after that fateful day, Sasuke recalls very little of what happened. One minute he had been swimming in the shallow edge of the ocean with his brother, enthused and excited to finally have a family vacation. His parents were always so busy, but at last, they had a few days to just...be together. Have some fun. Even Fugaku had been smiling.

And then...he went under.

Water. Flashes of blue and white, short gasps of air, flailing limbs, not knowing what way was up or down. It seemed to go on forever, struggling to breathe just enough to stay alive before being pulled back down.

It was like the current had him by the ankles, determined to pull him to a watery grave.

...but then...it stopped. He surfaced. Swam a few desperate, amateur strokes in his youth until his feet touched a sandy floor.

Where…?

He was in a strange formation of stone. Almost like an egg from the inside, with a hole at the top, bright blue with sky. Around one edge was a belt of the fine earthen granules, golden and soft. A few plants grew along the edges. And there, to the other side, was a dipping abyss. 

It looked like it went...under the stone? A tunnel out, maybe?

But he’d been far too frightened to try to swim back under - to make his way back out to his family. Instead, he cried for help. Cried until his voice went hoarse. And then finally, blessedly, someone looked in through the top at him. Lowered a rope with a slat of wood to sit on, like his swing back home. Clinging to it and shivering, Sasuke had been pulled up through the gap and back into the panicked arms of his family.

Itachi blamed himself. Said he’d let Sasuke wander too far. The younger brother had tried to explain that pulling feeling, but...no one would listen. Told him it was a current, not anything conscious or seeking.

...but still, the conviction remained: something had pulled him down there. And then...something had saved him. Put him safely into the strange cove beyond the ocean’s reach.

One would think such an experience would drive a primal fear into him...but instead, he did the opposite. A drive to conquer the water rose in him. And so, Sasuke joined his junior swim team in school. And progressed with it through middle school, and into his final four years of primary education. Now no longer a high schooler, he steps into his final summer before college begins.

And he’s back at the beach. 

In his family’s eyes, it’s no longer a welcoming place. He has to wait until his agemates choose it as their last class-wide getaway before he can return. It takes many assurances that he’s going to be fine, he’s no longer a child, before his parents agree to let him go.

It’s...changed since he was a boy.

There’s now a fancy hotel, the beaches far more crowded and trafficked than before. Where they once vacationed with little interruption, there’s hardly a place to sit in the sand.

But in truth, the beach isn’t exactly what Sasuke’s looking for.

He wants to find the cove.

It would be easy enough to climb to the top, but...getting down would be dangerous. No...if he wants in, he’ll have to swim back through the gap under the stone.

Why?

...he has to know. What dragged him down? Was he really just imagining things? Or is there something lurking in these waters?

Managing to ditch his classmates, he makes his way down the beach to the strange cove. From here, it just looks like a rock outcropping. But in truth, it’s perfectly hollow: like a bowl resting on its edge. Wading out to his knees, Sasuke has only a pair of goggles to let him see through the murky water.

From here, he can’t begin to see what he’s looking for. He’ll have to search, first.

Taking a deep breath, he goes a ways further before leaving his feet and swimming. Smooth, clean strokes take him easily out into deeper waters, sticking close to the outcropping before starting to dive in search of the opening.

After fifteen minutes of diving with no luck, he surfaces and treads water, thinking. He can’t really remember what side of the cove he came up through...once he was taken out, his father had scooped him up and taken him back to the car, and his orientation had been lost. He could be searching on the wrong side, but...this was where he was first pulled under.

...maybe there’s no way back unless he’s taken.

It’s risky, but...maybe worth a try.

Doing his best to relax, Sasuke takes several preparatory breaths...before letting himself sink beneath the waves.

For a long moment, there’s a calm weightlessness as he just...floats between the ocean floor and the surface.

But then an ankle tugs, and he can’t help a partial exhale of surprise - precious air lost as he watches the light of the sky above him quickly darken.

Struggling to look down and regain his mobility, he can’t quite see if something really has him...or if it’s just an undertow. Seaweed soon brushes past him, tickling at his skin and obscuring his vision. Slowly his lungs begin to burn as his oxygen depletes.

Then...the pull suddenly stops.

Hovering in a forest of kelp, he slowly strokes with his limbs. This...is unnerving. He can’t see anything, but - there! Something just swam past! It...it’s not a shark, is it…?

Dark eyes flickering, he cautiously starts making his way to the surface, only to jerk as something grabs his wrist! Rather than up, he’s pulled forward, and the water turns pitch black.

Is...is he…?

No...there! Light! A surface! Freed from whatever grasped him, he strokes in desperation to breach, gasping as he hits air. Struggling forward, he eventually finds sand, crawling up before collapsing on his back.

Silence, save for the muffled calls of gulls, and the gentle hiss of the ocean.

“...it’s you again.”

Stilling and feeling his heart stop, Sasuke stares straight up. Who...who said…?

“That was...a very foolish thing to do. I almost lost you.”

Slowly, ever so slowly, Sasuke pulls himself upright, sitting along the sand and looking to the water.

There, leaning on her elbows in the shallows, is a girl. At first glance, there’s nothing abnormal, but...her legs aren’t legs. It’s...it’s a tail. Like a dolphin’s. And her eyes are a strange, solid plane of white. No pupils. Webbed skin clings between her fingers, the shells of her ears long and frilled, like fins.

It had been only a dream. A figment of his imagination. Something seen so briefly, even a child barely dared to believe it, dashed quickly by the stern words of adults.

There’s no such thing as mermaids.

But he remembers, now. She’d pulled him in. Disappeared in a flash...but he saw her on  his way up, clinging to that rope and board.

...she saved him.

And now she’s done it twice.

Her head tilts, wet curtain of amethyst hair slithering over her back. “...why did you come back?”

“I...I had to know.”

“...know?”

“That you were real. That I wasn’t crazy…!”

“They won’t believe you.”

“I don’t care! It’s not about them...it’s about me.” Struggling to stand, he starts to pace. “I told them...I  _ told _ them something pulled me! Saved me! But no one believed...so neither did I. But now...now I know.”

Staring at him, the mermaid then asks, “...now what will you do?”

“...I dunno. Go back, I guess.”

“You won’t try to tell anyone?”

“No. You’re right - no one would believe me. I just had to prove it to myself.” Taking his turn to look at her, he adds, “...thank you for saving me. Twice.”

Her lips lift in a smile. “...you’re welcome. You like my little hideaway…?”

Gaze moving around the strange formation, he nods. “Never seen anything else like it. Or like you.”

“...Hinata.”

“What?”

“My name. It’s Hinata.”

He brightens. “Sasuke. Nice to...officially meet you, Hinata.”

“Likewise.” Again her head tilts. “...will you ever come back again?”

“I dunno...maybe.”

“I would...like that.”

“Yeah? ...me too.”

“But...you are not alone now, are you? They will come looking.”

“...yeah, probably.”

“I should take you back.”

But he just got here, just met her…! Just finally proved to himself he’s not insane! “...all right.”

“Keep hold of my tail - I’ll show you the way.”

Obliging, Sasuke watches as she carefully makes her way out, quickly heading for the surface. As he’d suspected, they’re far farther from shore than he’d initially thought.

“See this stone, here? It marks the way. For when you return. Stay close to the side, the current won’t find you.”

“Is that really what dragged me down?”

...she doesn’t reply.

Treading water, he hesitates. “...well...guess this is goodbye for now.” This all feels so surreal, just...talking to her. Like she’s any other person.

“Yes...for now. Take care, Sasuke. The ocean gives and takes as she pleases. Don’t tempt her again.”

“...I’ll try not to.” Taking her advice, he makes his way around toward shore. It’s gotten late, the crowds thinning a bit.

“Hey, there he is!”

“Sasuke! Where you been?”

Making his way up the beach, the Uchiha pauses. “Just...doing a little diving.”

“C’mon man, we’re going out for dinner! Fresh seafood!”

“...be right there.”

**Author's Note:**

> Not much to say about this one besides...mermaids! Mermaid Hinata, specifically. And almost-drowned Sasuke, lol
> 
> Not as fleshed out as I'd like, but it's late and I'm tired, as usual - someday I'll do these when not exhausted =w=;;;
> 
> Anyway, my eyeballs are screaming - time for bed! Thanks for reading~


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